Founder member of the Progressive Democrats Paul MacKay is correct when he says the party has been drifting aimlessly for the past eight months and that action must be taken if it is to have a future. His comments could be dismissed as a thinly-veiled attack on the performance of acting leader and Minister for Health Mary Harney, but they go far beyond that to question the very existence of the Progressive Democrats and the ethical standards the organisation upholds.
The party is in huge trouble. It lost six of its eight Dáil seats last May and its remaining public representatives are being head-hunted by both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. The party's trauma intensified in the immediate aftermath of the general election when both its leader Michael McDowell and its president Tom Parlon resigned. And while Mary Harney subsequently agreed to reassume control, she made it clear her priorities lay in health reform. The reluctance by senior members to take on the task of rebuilding the organisation was later echoed by Senator Fiona O'Malley; by the semi-public negotiations of Noel Grealish TD concerning Fianna Fáil membership and by an internal recommendation to open up the leadership position to all party members.
Time is running out for the PDs. If the party is to survive and remain a cogent political force, it will require organisational restructuring, a renewed ideological drive and clear public standards. How these elements may be combined, who should undertake the work and under what circumstances, are issues that will have to be decided by the membership. The most important thing is to address them with the urgency they require.
Mr MacKay has possibly done the party a service with his stark analysis of its narrow options. He is no stranger to controversy throughout his career. He was expelled from Fianna Fáil 26 years ago for publicly questioning Charles Haughey's use of constituency funding. He became treasurer of the PDs when the party was formed and, later, a trustee. There may be an element of revisiting lost battles about his intervention. Mr McDowell wished to leave government during the election campaign because of questions surrounding Bertie Ahern's personal finances. He was prevailed upon not to do so. As a result, the party lost credibility and public support for failing to hold Fianna Fáil to account. Those same questions have prompted Mr MacKay to call on the party to leave Government and re-build the organisation or, alternatively, to fold its tent and celebrate its achievements.
For all of these reasons, Mr MacKay has opened up an important debate in the PDs. The message is more important than any motivation attributed to it. Mary Harney is the Progressive Democrats' greatest political asset. She has the capacity to become - once again - a charismatic leader. The question is whether she has the will to do so a second time round? One thing is certain: the Trojan task of re-building the party would be achieved more easily in Opposition.